Consumer packaging is designed to take into consideration functionality and appearance. By way of example most single serve yogurt containers are made from a thermoformed plastic. A sheet of thermoplastic is drawn by a thermoforming machine into a container shape. This generally consists of either a round or square side wall configuration to define a containment region with an upper opening surrounded by a perimeter flange. The flange provides a place for a foil seal to engage with the thermoformed plastic to create an openable closure to the containment region. Some of such containers provide their opposed side wall(s) substantially parallel to each other although a slight taper may be provided to allow for the thermoformed product to be extracted from the thermoforming machine. However where the side walls of such a container are parallel, an empty container (for example to be shipped from its place of manufacture to its place of packaging), will not be able to nest with like containers to reduce the total space required for the transport of such containers in their empty state.
One serve yogurt containers may also need to be stacked, one on top of each other, after they have been filled and sealed. There is a limit to the height that a stack of such containers can reach in light of the strength of the side walls of each of the containers. The containers will need to have sufficient wall thickness to allow for a stack of a suitable or desired height to be achieved without problems with buckling of the side walls and a collapsing of such containers under the weight of the stack above. Increasing the wall thickness will increase the material costs of each container manufactured. It would be desirable for such a wall thickness to be able to be reduced so as to reduce the cost of goods manufactured yet still provide a container that is of a comparable strength to a container with plain side walls.
Consumption of the food contained within a one serve sized container is often achieved by the use of a spoon. The spoon may transfer the food content directly to the mouth of a consumer. A spoon is a further element that needs to be provided to allow for the contents of such a container to be consumed. Yogurt and custard or other food consumer products such as those having a jelly like consistency are not to any significant extent able to be poured or dispensed quickly from a container due to their high viscosity and/or gelatinous nature. It is therefore necessary to use a spoon to transfer some if not a substantial part of the contents from a container. There also seems to be a trend with consumer packaging products for food containers to allow the food contents to be dispensed without the need for any further implements or utensils. Whilst some non viscous fluids or non gelatinous fluids product contained within a container can be poured from such a container, yogurt or other similar food products can have poor pour characteristics. Such fluids may be Newtonian or non Newtonian fluids that may not necessarily, purely by its viscosity characteristics, have such poor pour characteristics. It is for this reason that normally a spoon is used to dispense the contents of the product from a container. The capability of a package to self dispense a significant part of the contents is being addressed by consumer packaging designers and manufacturers.
Recycling of containers containing consumables is also an important consideration in packaging design. The plain rectangular form of yogurt containers, do not conveniently lend themselves to being compacted. To facilitate efficiencies in recycling, compacting of consumable packaging is a distinct advantage.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a container which will address any one or more of the abovementioned desiderata or the abovementioned disadvantages and/or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.